Faith Venture

A small group I’m part of is studying 1 Peter. At the very beginning of the letter, Peter gives some tips for a small community of Jesus-followers trying to get along in a society that either doesn’t care or is openly hostile to them.

“Be holy,” he advises.

I asked, what is holy. Or, put it this way, if someone is described to you as holy, would you invite them to dinner?

No way!

Then obviously what we are thinking is not what Peter had in mind. For Peter was trying to build community–a group of people who enjoyed having dinner with each other.

We are thinking descriptions such as arrogant, self-righteous, sexually repressed, joyless.

Actually that is what was called a “holier-than-thou” attitude.

Peter says the key word to holy is love. Be like Jesus, act with love.

Throughout my life, I’m positive that many people have looked at me and said, “He thinks too much.”

Maybe true. Or, maybe I just spent the first third of my life withdrawn.

When I was first introduced to fundamentalist churches (now called evangelical, I guess), I expected a cult-like atmosphere filled with superstition. Same with off-shoots like Jehovah’s Witnesses or (once popular in my area) The Way International.

What I discovered was–they think too much.

Recently I was attempting to explain a few of the many theories drawn from The Revelation of John from the New Testament. And I stopped and said, “They all just thought too much. Each grabbed a few verses and then they thought out entire scenarios based on that. In fact, often they all go back and subtly modify translations from the Greek in order to make everything fit together in a nice, neat, rational explanation.”

The story part of the classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ends with the hero in shock therapy. What happens when you think too much, suggests the author, is insanity.

Rationality devolves into rules and following rules.

I’m reading an ancient Christian church father who noted, “The spirit of discretion enables us to do the right thing at the right moment; it teaches us how to be zealous for divine justice and to offer pardon at one and the same time.” (St. Bernard)

Fifty years of contemplative life have mellowed rigorous rationality. Understanding of both justice and pardon–guilt and grace–supersedes rule following.

Stop thinking so much and get with the flow of God’s spirit.

When a jar is full, it is of no use when you need someplace to store something.

When we are filled, there is no place for God to enter and reside.

We start by emptying

Worries

Anger

Prejudice

Bitterness

Prejudice

Pride — most of all

Then, when we have stripped away these negative parts, there is room for God to live.

Ancient wisdom that is new every new day.

Are you trying to become successful?

Do you wish for success for your children? For your business? For your organization?

What is success?

Too often pursuit of success involves taking shortcuts. Cutting moral corners.

We lie and cheat and deceive in business. We offer bribes to get out children into the best schools. We measure success in churches by number of “cheeks in the seats”. And we don’t care who we push aside to get the biggest whatever.

Rather…

We could strive to add value to the world.

Businesses thrive by adding value to their customers.

Churches and nonprofits thrive by adding value to those whom they serve.

Thrive means healthy, not necessarily large. You and your organization thrive by starting each day with the mission of finding at least one way to add value to the world.

At the end of the day, ask yourself, “Where did I add value today?”

Once upon a time, a human looking for a source of food discovered that she could eat beans. Especially if they were boiled.

However, when she served them to the family, some acute gastrointestinal distress followed.

Eventually someone had experimented enough to discover that cooking for a long time eliminated that problem and beans became a staple food source for huge areas of the world.

Until recently when humans said, “We don’t have time to cook these things for a long time.” And acute gastrointestinal distress followed. And someone said, don’t eat beans.

We modern humans are so smart.

Actually, that’s a small part of the scientific method. We see a problem, think about it, come up with an idea to solve the problem, and then we experiment. Other people can perform the same experiment, and then you have knowledge.

And then someone discovered throwing in a bay leaf and some ham….

Notice the problem. We modify the idea and force things to fit in with what we think. We don’t have time, oh, well, let’s just speed it up and not cook so long. We make the hypothesis match what we want to happen not what actually happens.

The same thing applies to religious studies.

We get an idea of the way things should be. This is human psychology or anatomy that we don’t like. Or this is behavior we don’t like. Or we explain the end of times such that we can separate ourselves and our friends from the riff raff.

We go to the Bible and find ways to make its facts fit our new idea. Sometimes we even go back to New Testament Greek and subtly modify some meanings or grammar. Voila, what we believe is now in the Bible.

The best response is to stick to the things that have been proven over time and replicated by thousands. When we strike out on our own, we are headed for a pool of quicksand in the swamp.

I came across these thoughts from Mohandas Gandhi during some research. These are worth pondering frequently. Put them in your notebook to review periodically. How many have I violated? How recently? How do I use these to evaluate people and businesses I may deal with?

1. Wealth without Work
2. Pleasure without Conscience
3. Knowledge without Character
4. Commerce without Morality
5. Science without Humanity
6. Worship without Sacrifice
7. Politics without Principle

Stop. Think. Digest. OK, now move along with your day.

How many people do you know who have college degrees yet don’t seem to know anything?

I never finished an engineering degree. Before I entered the university I was already taught through books, friends, experience about electronic circuits and the math involved. I went to university and refused to be channeled into a regimented system.

But in my third year, I discovered the game. And I was even able to hit the honor roll sometimes even though I don’t think I ever studied with the goal of a grade.

Then I had 10-20 years of jobs where the graduate engineer came in who knew tons of math, but couldn’t figure out the practical side of manufacturing or how to design to standards or any number of other things.

It’s the same for wherever my curiosity took me. Philosophy, psychology, Yoga, soccer, health, fitness…

I offer myself as a poor example of Mark Twain’s comment, “Don’t let education get in the way of learning.”

I know many professionals–engineers, doctors, lawyers, and more–who make good use of education and degrees.

But I know far too many people who have the paper yet are still unlearned.

They are the ones who asked, “Will this be on the test?” They remembered long enough for the test. They worked for a grade. Got it and moved on.

But there are many who barely remember university or maybe even made it there who are among the smartest and most knowledgeable people I know.

Curiosity and imagination are more important than rote memorization. (Although it is useful to remember many things. A paradox.)

“How can I meet girls?” asked the young man in an online q&a session with a famous author.

“Just be yourself,” was a suggestion.

“How can I be myself? Aren’t I always?” came the reply.

I presumed his age as young, because evidently he was not aware yet of the masks people wear to project being someone they are not.

If he were aware, perhaps he’d be concerned that being himself may not be appealing to others. Perhaps he would be correct. Or perhaps just insecure. Doing things that develop self-confidence such as learning a skill or developing an expertise helps.

Maybe first, he (as well as all of us) first need to ask for the power like Robert Burns did in his poem “To a Louse”–‘O wad some Power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!’

You can change and improve once you know your true starting point. It begins with attitude and continues to behaviors.

Or for this young man, I like Andy Stanley’s advice (paraphrased)–be the person that the person you want to be with wants to be with.

Oh, and ask questions. Then listen–really listen. And show interest and concern. It’s a gift to be quiet and let others talk. Then they think you are a great conversationalist. One of life’s many paradoxes.

A blogger/writer/podcaster whom I respect recently told an interviewer, “I probably throw out five bad ideas before coming up with the one I write about.”

After reading some of my stuff, you may be amazed to learn that I do about the same thing. I have an idea, consider it, dismiss it, and then go on to the next.

Worse is when I am thinking of a Bible verse or song or quote. Then, just to be safe, I research it. Oops. I discover that the verse isn’t in the Bible. The song had a totally different meaning. That person never said what I was about to quote.

We have a conversation. Someone quotes the Bible. They feel deep into their being that they are right. Even if you open the book and point it out, they will continue to believe it.

Entire political or religious movements have begun due to someone remembering a phrase inaccurately.

When I find that I’m wrong, well, I just go on to the next idea. Or morph the bad one into something better.

That response is within the personality of an Enneagram 5, which I am (mostly). But I think it is also something the other 8 personality types can do–learn to dismiss an inaccurate memory and move on.

The palest ink is better than the strongest memory. Said Pope. Or was it Swift? Or Shakespeare? I think someone famous and old said that…